They headed out into the forest once everyone had been roused. Zev trailed behind, still thinking of his dreams. Somehow, lately, his dreams had seemed more real than his waking hours. Aedan strode past him, stalling long enough to grope him and ruffle his hair with the same affection he showered on the dog, as usual. Zev found he couldn't even muster the energy to flinch.
All he wanted was the day to be over, for the night to come so he could go back to sleep, go back to his Rinna. Each night she seemed more real, more there. The endless cold and blowing wind of his waking hours had taken on a nightmarish quality, with only the cheerful chatter of the Templar and bard giving him something to focus on besides the notion of being warm.
It seemed like a wish come true, as they came around a corner and found a small campsite. There was a warm fire blazing, with thick padded bedrolls and a sturdy woolen tent. He could smell the spiced soup simmering in the fire, right next to a boiling kettle of fragrant herbal tea. His companions seemed as delighted as he was, settling themselves down for a restful break. It was nearly dinnertime already anyhow, so why not just stay here? He seated himself across from the wardens, and felt his eyelids go heavy the moment he did. Apparently the cold had taken more out of him than he had thought. Perhaps he would deal with the soup and such after a nice nap.
Rinna was curled in her favorite cushioned window seat, staring pensively out at the street below. "Something caught your interest, bella mio?" he asked into the quiet of the room, and watched her start violently, nearly falling from her perch. She slammed the shutters shut and spun to meet him.
"You shouldn't be here. Not now!" she hissed, obviously worried. She scurried to push him back at the door, growling as he planted his feet, easily holding off the much smaller elf.
"Rinna? What is wrong? Have I…" He started to ask, but she shook her head, eyes frightened as she bit at her lip.
"We'll talk tonight, my love. Right now, you have to wake up, unless you never want to wake up again."
"Would that be so bad?" He asked, thumb brushing away a tear as he cupped her cheek with one hand. "If I could stay here with you…"
"I would rather you alive and there than dead and here, Zevran! Now wake up, please, before…" Something roared outside the door, and pain lanced through his side, the ribs audibly cracking. Rinna cursed like a dockhand, and shoved him at the opening door. "Get out of here before the demon finds a way in!
He grabbed at her to keep his balance as he stumbled back, collapsing against the doorframe as a bleeding welt opened along his scalp. She froze at the threshold, staring at something he couldn't see. "And if I leave now, will it stay away from here?" he asked, even as claws pierced though the thin wooden shutters. "Would you be safe here alone?"
She glanced back at the splintering shutters, and gave him a sad, almost wistful smile. "It doesn't matter. Just go, Zev, while you can." He could hear wolves howling, feel unseen claws rake just over his skin, and clung tighter to the doorframe and her thin wrist.
"I won't leave you to face it alone, amore." He told her, wincing at the pain in his ribs. She cursed at him, trying to pry herself from his grasp.
"Idiot." She growled, an affectionate tone to her voice despite her anger. She shot a quick glance back at the window and through the door, and sighed. "Fine, then." She gritted her teeth and wrapped her fingers around his forearm before hurling them both through the dark doorway.
It was cold, and his ribs and head ached. The demon lashed out at him again, but this time never landed, a lithe black and white furred form leapt over him with a defiant snarl and sinking ivory fangs into the offending limb. The demon stumbled back, trying to pry the dog off its wrist, finally flinging it back off. The wolflike dog landed neatly on all fours between him and the threat, snarling. "Do not think to touch what is mine, demon," Rinna's voice, with all the cold fury she was capable of, echoed in the back of his mind.
The assassin scrambled to his feet as best he could, one arm wrapped around his side awkwardly. The patches of the long eared Antivan shepard's long furred coat followed the pattern of her tattoos, he noted, even as he drew his blade. She lunged forward, slashing at the demon's legs with sharp fangs before dancing back out of it's reach. A shield bash drew it's attention to the Templar long enough for her to sink her teeth into a leg, deep and fast enough to sever the hamstrings. But not fast enough to evade the reflex kick backwards. She hit the log at the edge of the clearing with a startled yelp and a string of mental curses.
Alistair had the hobbled demon in hand, Zev noted, and spun out of the way of a charging wolf, dragging his knife along a furred side. Hissing at the pain of the movement, he drew his other blade as well, stabbing through to vital organs before the yellowed fangs could reach his throat. As he pulled his blades back, a black and white blur slammed into the wolf trying to get him from, behind, a fierce "oh, no you don't!" his only warning. She stood pressed against the back of his legs for a moment as she eyed the circling wolves warily, snarling protectively. The largest of the wolves, a rough black coated brute, snarled back for a moment before turning his back and stalking off, the others falling in step behind him.
At the other end of the camp, Leliana and Aedan rose unsteadily to their feet, staring at the fallen demon and the departing wolves. " What happened? How did we.." the bard started to ask, as the Mabari and shepard gave each other cursory sniffs.
"We…" Zev announced cheerfully, as Alistair looked between him and the shepard dog carefully, "Are ridiculously awesome."
"I suppose we are." Aeden laughed. The herd dog sitting next to his mabari Dane stretched, showing her sharp white fangs in a careless yawn before shaking drops of demon blood from her long fur. "Well, and aren't you a pretty little thing? I've never seen a dog quite like you before." He extended a hand for her to sniff and reached out to pat her head, only for her to put her ears back and retreat behind Zevran's legs.
"She's an Antivan shepard. Common enough out in the provinces with the herders, occasionally kept by merchants as guarders." Zev answered cautiously, eying the wary look on Alistair's face as carefully as he did the sulky look on Aeden's. Rinna whined, a worried "Zev-mio?"whispering in the back of his mind, and he stroked a reassuring hand over her ears.
"And just where did your new friend come from? I'll admit she was rather handy just now, but…"
"She showed up while you were out cold." Alistair chimed in with a quick look at the assassin. "Zev was swearing pretty loudly in Antivan when the demon swiped him, and she came charging in to protect him. I think she's been wandering alone for a while, poor thing, and decided he was the closest thing to whoever she lost."
"Well, she certainly seems to have become attached to you, and Dane doesn't seem to mind her. As long as she doesn't cause trouble, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to let you keep her." Aeden shrugged, offering Leliana a supporting arm up. "with everyone a little scuffed up by that disturbance, we might as well stay here long enough to rest and have some dinner.
"I suppose we should go get some wood for the fire then, right Zevran?"Alistair asked in the same patently cheerful voice he had used to lie to Aedan a moment before. Zev winced, holding his clawmarked arm against his side, and the former Templar gave him a pointed look. "I saw some way over that way."
The moment the warden and crow were out of earshot of the impromptu camp, Alistair pointed an accusing finger at the herd dog sitting quietly at Zev's feet. "That is not a dog. When you woke up, one of the wolves glowed, yelped, and turned into that."
"The overgrown puppy is smarter than your nighttime stories led me to believe, Zev mio." Rinna mused, even as she arranged herself between the potential threat and her lover. Zev snorted quietly, and turned a measuring gaze on the former Templar.
"I had wondered how she came to be in that particular form. But tell me, friend Alistair, why didn't you share this version of the fight with our beloved leader?"
"Because she did protect you. Because… Because the moment you got a good look at her, you smiled like you haven't since Aedan started going off with you alone. What is she?"
"Someone entirely too forgiving for her own good, who does however owe me a bit of an explanation." Even as he said it, he ran a soothing hand over a furred head.
"I will tell you what I know of the manner of my return, if you fully explain why the other warden smells of your blood." Was the answer from the dog at his feet, with an apologetic nudge at his hand when he stiffened. "I came back with you because you refused to return alone, and the trickster offered me a new body of sorts. Something about you making an ill-worded wish." With a last affectionate nuzzle at the hand that had frozen above her head, she took a few wary steps toward Alistair, who gravely extended a hand for her to sniff.
"Well, she doesn't seem much like a demon…" the human cautiously stated, patting the dog's head briefly before she settled back at Zevran's feet, glancing between the two with an amused wag of her plume d tail.
"mmm? True enough, although I remember a time or two you referred to me as nearly a desire demon…."
Zev laughed, but shook a finger at her. "Not helpful, Rinna." She let her ears fall into a contrite position and nuzzled at his hands again, without ending the amused wag of her tail.
"If what half the trickster told me is true, you are the only one who can hear me in this form anyway. Tell the puppy I have no intention of possessing anyone but my current form, and no desire to harm anyone who hasn't hurt you, or intends to." She paused, giving a cursory lick at a mud spattered paw as Zev relayed that to the warden. "Although, I would love to hear a benign explanation for the other warden, the one in the tent with the giggly bard."
"I swore an oath to serve him, without reservation. I will not break that oath," Zev informed her, watching her ears flick back before she resignedly settled her head back down on her paws. "Not yet, at least."
"I'm getting the distinct impression I'm missing half the conversation. You two aren't talking about me, are you?"
"No, friend Alistair, not this time. So. With what little I can explain of my 'not a dog', will you allow her to remain with us without mentioning any of this to any of the rest of our little fellowship?"
